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So, finally, they have succumbed to what only can be described as a non-existent strategy, poor leadership at the highest level in the company and mounting debts that are simply eye-watering. It's not a big surprise really, and it appears it comes down to the incompetence of the board. It's comical that this company is much like the Black Knight of Monty Python, but really the only sympathy should be shown to the poor shop floor workers and us poor shareholders. The Chairman always said he would only 'look forward', when in fact he should have taken heed of the past. The CEO has steered the ship to oblivion it would seem and so the fault must lie at the top - at least he also loses a significant amount of cash. The Ethiopian project has been a complete failure from the very start it would seem, yet why did they persist with it??? Ultimately it must have cost them and presumably have lost historical sales accounts in recent times. The two latest large shareholders should have completed better due diligence, so no sympathy should be shown to them - frankly I cannot understand how they were enticed into acquiring such large stakes in a failing business. I cannot see how any bank of any worth will re-finance the company. The pitiful injection of interest-free loans from the directors shows they are not serious about the future either, and the £50K from Yapp reveals that he must be extremely embarrassed that the ship has sank under his watch, which doesn't say much for his business acumen. Watch the suppliers now go scrambling after monies owed to them.........
An apparent reduced revenue of over 16%, increased inventory (as if it weren't high enough already), and a small gain on comparative overall profit after tax (although the headline news of improvement from £0.1M to £0.2M does not appear to be
quite that once the unrounded figures are observed, wherein it seems as though it has increased by only £46K) . It would appear there is some spin on the increased margins, but I would theorise that this is skewed by better quality products being sold (thus a higher SP) and the lower grade products are not moving (thus the reduction in revenue and increase in stockholdings/inventory), which ultimately doesn't bode well. I note the aspect of Brexit in there, but this is qualified by admitting to 90% sales outside of the EU, and likely to be heavily weighted to sales in $USD, so scares me to think why no decent profits in times of the weak pound, and ultimately the blow that may be dealt as the pound regains its strength in time. To me, it is possible that the Chairman has not fully grasped the situation that the company is in. Perhaps it is time for independent due diligence of sorts or look at other options to revitalise the company before it is too late.
What distresses me more is the fact that the CEO had assets that he could have liquidated quite easily if he needed to raise £40K, namely some of his existing shareholding (as seen from his publicly stated shareholding)!!! Also why wasn't this loan flagged at last years AGM??? I do hope the Chairman will elucidate how this was ever allowed??? Doesn't bring confidence to investors and truthfully sends out the wrong signals to ALL stakeholders in the business.......
I see from the publicly available Form of Proxy on the Pittards website that the CEO has managed to gain a 2 year £40K interest free loan dating back to Feb 2016!!! Rather obscene in light of the repetitive poor performance of the company and the large salary he commands!! But to make things worse I also see that the CEO still has enough cash in his pocket to purchase shares in the company, such as yesterday!!! Needs to get his priorities right and pay back the loan fully before using it to finance any other non-essential purchases. I am wondering which other staff members have been afforded this luxury!!!
Terrible set of results, and there is no marketing spin that can cover it up this time. If the company cannot make money with a weak GBP£ then there is no hope. Perhaps the executive management should return their annual wages due to such a poor set of results - totally unimpressed yet again. The new chairman needs to get a grip on this situation and send a clear message to investors. New blood required.......urgently, but of the right sort.
Just caught up on the recent news and SP fall. Clear that both the existing leadership continues to falter. Seems as though an injection of new blood at the top needed, with international experience rather than staff that have worked there for an eternity. Even if the MD went, his heir's apparent would still be of the same mindset. Await the financials in March, although will the strong $ blur the true figures ?
Saw this earlier on a financial website posted today. Hopefully this will not become reality..................... The stock of Pittards plc (LON:PTD) gapped down by GBX 0.032 today and has GBX 79.98 target or 14.00% below today’s GBX 93.00 share price. The 7 months technical chart setup indicates high risk for the GBX 13.38M company. The gap down was reported on Dec, 8 by Barchart.com. If the GBX 79.98 price target is reached, the company will be worth GBX 1.87M less. Gaps down are helpful for identifying a resistance level and to could also be used as a tradeable event. If traders are short the stock and it experiece gap down, then its usually advisable to hold the short for a bigger down move. Back-tests of such patterns show that two-thirds of the these patterns the stock performance worsens after the gap. The area gaps close 91% of the time, the breakaway gaps 1%, the continuation gaps 9% and the exhaustion gaps 64%. The stock is down 4.12% or GBX 4 after the news, hitting GBX 93 per share. About 4,967 shares traded hands. Pittards plc (LON:PTD) has declined 23.32% since May 11, 2015 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 22.73% the S&P500.
So yet again the strategy that has been pushed for so many years about Ethiopia has proved it cannot offer genuine protection for stable order books nor protection against currency. The way the strategy has been 'marketed' definitely now looks compromised. The brand itself seems in disarray and not knowing which direction to head. The statement released is most likely more of a smokescreen to the real complexities going on in the business, of which Pittards can no longer address successfully I assume. Poor forward orders should not be allowed, and I guess their sales force direction is now following the muddled marketing strategy. Surely the major investors will be looking for real answers to what is going on, and it would be very interesting to see if these answers are passed on. The share purchase today by the Managing Director can only be seen as an effort to try to calm the situation, but I figure the underlying rot remains.......
I have only just caught up with a fellow shareholder, who was frankly less than impressed at the AGM. It sounds as though the current strategy, whilst spun to sound positive, is actually yielding no real results, nor provides any defence to their currency exposure that is so evident. The current Chairman and CEO have had long enough to make it work. But which one should go or should it be both of them? At least we have reassurance in knowing the new non-exec could take the helm for a period of time to ensure the 'ship', as A319 puts it, could change course and will not sink. Hopefully not 'a penny for your thoughts' on this one as we cannot afford for the share price to reduce further but I would be interested to discover how other shareholders are currently feeling.
A keen anticipation rewarded with a rather mediocre report and no sign of the elusive dividend. Despite the move towards vertical integration, it is still a pitiful profit really and a turnover drop as well. I would have thought with all these factories in Ethiopia they would be making some better profit by now. I see currency was 'blamed' yet again by the CEO. Is it time for a change at the top - maybe it would be better if the new non-exec took the reigns instead???
Finally - a non-exec that can actually bring advice to the company as opposed to the regular fee takers :-) Also will be interesting to see him challenge the existing management, because if we're honest they've talked a lot of hype over the last few years but the board always falls back on how currency has hurt them and to me that excuse is wearing a bit thin now........
They say 'Any press is good press' but I am not so sure on this one........ http://www.4-traders.com/PITTARDS-PLC-4002237/news/Pittards-plc--Govt-Intervenes-to-Thaw-Frozen-Accounts-of-Foreign-Leather-Companies-17737964/
Despite reading and viewing positive spin articles in the media about this company, my uncertainty arises from the apparent situation (unconfirmed) where the main shareholder over the last few years is reducing his stakeholding notwithstanding the repeated news of improvement......????